Pistol-Whipped

As the firearm debate fades, the numbers reveal patterns in Oregon’s gun deaths.

When the gunfire fell silent after Clackamas Town Center
and Sandy Hook last December, politicians raced to proclaim it was time
to do something about gun violence in America.

The news set off a
buying spree of assault-style rifles—the choice of many sharpshooters,
hunters and crazed mass killers—as lawmakers wrote bills to address the
easy availability of such weapons and big ammunition clips.

Less than three
months later, the debate has cooled, and the talk in Salem is that there
is little Oregonians can expect from the Legislature.

We hear from pro-gun rights activists that these rifles—the AR-15s and Bushmaster 22s, for example—aren’t the problem.

Still, we remained
curious about the gun violence no one seems in any particular hurry to
address: Just who is getting killed, and by what kind of gun?

So we dug through the numbers—specifically, the tally of gun deaths in Multnomah County and Oregon.

It turns out the handgun does more damage.

Of the almost 780
gun-related deaths in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties over a
five-year period, more than 500—or about two out of three—deaths were
from handguns, according to statistics from the Oregon Health Authority.

Statewide, it’s just under 60 percent.

While the debate has
focused on how to prevent one person from shooting another, the gun
violence that does the most damage is self-inflicted.

Kevin Starrett,
director of the Oregon Firearms Federation, says the numbers show
legislators are addressing the wrong kind of gun if they’re trying to
have the most impact.

“A handgun is just
more practical,” Starrett says. “With crime, it’s easier to be concealed
and it’s easier to be disposed of. For suicides, it’s just easier to
use. Why focus on the firearm that is least likely to be used? Because
you can get the most emotion out of it.”

The most far-reaching
bill aimed at curbing gun violence is House Bill 3200, which would ban
the ownership or sale of assault weapons and large-volume magazines. Current owners would either have to give up their assault weapons or register them with the state.

"In the low usage areas, we found that our vehicles sit idle four times longer, ultimately affecting overall vehicle availability for the Portland membership base, as well as parking for the Portland community."

News
East Portland can't catch a break.Just this week KGW had a story called, "Diverse, non-cool East Por... More